Health Secretary John Reid came to Coventry yesterday to warn voters it was make or break time in the June 10 city council elections.

With Labour on the brink of losing control of the city for the first time in 25 years, Dr Reid and council leader John Mutton challenged voters to ask themselves if they really want to return to Conservative policies.

They warned voters whoever won on June 10 would be in power for two years as there are no local elections in the city next year.

Dr Reid said: ?It would be a tragedy if Conservatives were to win. Unemployment in Coventry is the lowest for decades. We?d never have had that under a Conservative government and a Conservative local authority.

?They were opposed to the New Deal, opposed to expenditure and getting people back to work. We know we would never have had the Arena project here because Conservatives opposed that as well.? Both said shadow chancellor Oliver Letwin was planning cuts of up to #135 billion on public services and Dr Reid said: ?That?s three times the total expenditure on the NHS at the moment.?

After a photocall with most of their 54 election candidates on the cathedral steps opposite Coventry?s newest square, complete with fountains, Cllr Mutton told Dr Reid he was confident Labour could hang on to control.

In the crypt by St Mary?s Hall, he explained Labour has 24 of the 54 seats, to Conservatives? 23, Socialist three, Liberal Democrat two and independent two. He said: ?Our target is 27 seats and I think it?s achievable.?

Deputy leader George Duggins later said; ?I think that?s hugely possible. We may even do better than that. We have got some people who have worked very hard and who have been councillors, who are standing.?

Cllr Mutton said the elections were the ?most vital for 24 years?. He added: ?The choice could not be clearer.

?Either it will be a Labour council who wish to take Coventry forward or a Tory administration that will focus on a narrow agenda that will surely mean massive cuts in as-yet-unspecified service areas.?